Designed for a family member returning to the UK after many years abroad, the building is conceived both as a fluidly connected addition whilst on occasion a self-contained and private guesthouse. The current house benefits from a substantial garden with mature planting and a delightful apple orchard. The new scheme is unapologetically contemporary, yet sensitive to the garden setting, ensuring that the new mass and bulk does not detract from the existing landscape.

We have focused on ensuring the guesthouse is immersed in the orchard and garden to a greater extent than the existing house. This has been achieved by carefully considering levels, thresholds and views, which will ensure an enhanced living experience once the building is complete, whilst also sitting the building sensitively with regard to local Conservation Area guidelines.

The form of the house is distinct from the existing - something our clients positively encouraged - whilst being sympathetic to the language of cranked-gable barns in the surrounding Oxfordshire countryside. It will also provide uplifting vaulted spaces within the guest bedrooms that will be a unique and uplifting experience for the young family soon to reside there.